Survivor: Winners at War without Richard Hatch regrettably makes sense

Richard Hatch is perhaps Survivor’s most iconic winner, yet he will not play in Winners at War. After watching Island of the Idols, it’s a sensible move.

There are three major instances of unwanted sexual contact, harassment, or touching that have become major talking points in Survivor’s almost 20-year history. Ted Rogers grinding up on Ghandia Johnson one night in his sleep during Thailand remarkably didn’t move the needle as much as Dan Spilo’s continued unwanted touching of several women did 17 years later.

Arguably the most irresponsibly edited instance of impropriety happened during Survivor: All-Stars when, during an Immunity Challenge in episode 5, Richard Hatch reportedly rubbed his genitals on fellow castaway Sue Hatch at a juncture on the course. He has denied the exact nature of the event, but it was certainly enough of a distressful moment for Sue to pull herself from the game the day afterward.

We’re not here to re-litigate an event roughly a decade and a half old, nor are we here to admonish or defend any individual in particular. However, with Survivor: Winners at War bringing 20 champions together for season 40 as they battle for $2 million, many have asked about the lack of one of the show’s most iconic winners from the roster.

Though we will likely never get a 100% honest answer from CBS, Survivor production, Jeff Probst, or Richard Hatch collectively, it logically makes sense why Richard Hatch isn’t playing in Survivor: Winners at War; doing so would optically undo the serious structural changes being made to cover unwanted acts of sexual harassment, assault, and other sexually-charged incidents in the wake of Island of the Idols.

The filming schedules for seasons 39 and 40 were sandwiched between the airing of Edge of Extinction on television earlier this year. Several weeks after it began airing, Island of the Idols was being filmed, ending just short of the Edge of Extinction finale. It was roughly less than a week later that Winners at War began filming per Dalton Ross, meaning production had just dealt with Dan Spilo being removed from the season.

It would be impossible for production to know just how season 39 was going to be portrayed due to editing, but the severity of the situation and how much sexual impropriety had become entwined with the events of the season. Those in charge of the show had to know it would become a talking point around the time the preview for Winners at War would be revealed, even if they didn’t know the severity yet.

Even if the truth was Richard hadn’t rubbed up against Sue (or, at the very least, angled his lower body towards her in close proximity while saying, “Want some? Want some, honey?”), the timing of Dan Spilo’s actions followed by bringing Richard back onto the show would be poor at best and downright deplorable at worst.

Rather than weigh the possibilities of how much they could control the discourse, it seems as though not including Richard Hatch in Survivor: Winners at War would be the most straightforward method for avoiding that discussion. It’s a logical, simple answer to a complex problem, and there are plenty of exciting winners cast for the season regardless.